New Project 1911 hupmobile

[jeff10049]

I bored out the pin end of the rods to accept the slightly larger dodge pin for the pistons I'm using. Next I need to make a fixture for babbiting the big end. Getting close to assembling the engine

[MiniDave]

Exciting stuff!

By the way, Happy Birthday Jeff! 

[jeff10049]

Thanks Dave, Hopefully, I'll be driving this thing before the next one.

[jeff10049]

Time for an update, I made a fixture for pouring the rod big end bearings after tinning the rods they were poured with babbitt.
Next was boring them to size on the mill.

[jeff10049]

Next the rods were mounted on a mandrel in the lathe and the side clearance cut and a chamfer added for the crank radius. The radius required some hand fitting and then plasti gauge was used to check clearance all are within .001-.0015 right where I want them. The plastic gauge went over the oil hole that's why the center is not compressed in the pictures.

[jeff10049]

Then a check to make sure the pins remained parallel to the deck they were all perfect.

[MiniDave]

Wow, this is some real precision building Jeff!

What do you use to scrape the plastigauge off the crank without damaging it? That is some tough sticky stuff!

[jeff10049]

Keeping the big end parallel to the pin when boring did take some careful fixturing.
 For the plastigauge, I have always used a little brake cleaner on a paper towel; it dissolves the plastigauge. ATF on a towel also works well. I have been told removal is unnecessary, but I am not comfortable leaving it on.

My next challenge is valves the stems are worn .007  the guides also. Guides are easy I'll just get them lined with new ones. Valves are proving to be a bit hard to find I can get Ferrea Blanks for about $450.00 Id like to spend less I really don't need race-quality valves. I do however want stainless as the seats are not hard and stainless valves and cast iron play well together and hard seats are not needed with stainless valves and modern fuel. I ordered some Dodge Viper v10 exhaust valves that are stainless and long enough to cut off the retainer groove and thread them for the factory threaded retainers they are slightly bigger but non-issue to cut them down. The cost is only $13 each so if they work I'll be happy. I hope they are a nail head style valve the pictures show them to be and say 10 degree angle.
 
The last valves I ordered were 2.2 Chevy right size and long enough but they were tulip style that will shroud the port too much for flow with the very low lift of the cam.
Before that, I ordered some valves that could work only to find they were cast and that will cause seat recession I don't want to put hard seats in as it's not easy and the factory seats are near perfect.
I think if I strike out on the Dodge valves I'll suck it up for the Ferrea blanks. It's tempting anyway as I can order them with a slightly larger stem and just ream to size and not do guides. The catch with that, is I'll need to turn down the ends of the stem to size for threading 5/16 for the retainer.

The dodge valves arrive tomorrow we shall see. 

[MiniDave]

Fascinating stuff......can you machine the Chevy valves to a better profile on the lathe? If they're stainless, it seems they should be machinable. I'm not working with pics or any real knowledge here, just spitballin.....

[jeff10049]

That is a possibility but the heads are also dished so I was concerned about getting too thin on the head.

The dodge valves arrived and the head is a Nailhead style rather than tulip they look great and should work well but I ordered the wrong part number and got the shorter stem ones so they will be exchanged with the long stem version tomorrow. Then I just have to cut down the head from 1.630 to 1.500 and trim and thread the stems. I think I'll just take the cylinders to the machine shop for the guids I don't have the right reamers and it's inexpensive to have guides installed. At that time they can re grind the valves and touch up the seats for me.

[jeff10049]

well, the Dodge valves arrived the stem is hard to thread with a die I did one and the die was done the valve might be ok if the stem didn't bend.  Cutting the head diameter down went pretty well with carbide tooling.
 So I will try single-point threading the stem on the lathe with a carbide inset threading tool if that works the valves should work out if not I will have ruined $50.00 worth of valves trying and return the rest and spend the big $$ on custom blanks. Iv'e threaded valve stems before but these are a harder material.

[jeff10049]

The valves threaded nicely in the lathe got 6 done waiting for 2 more to show up. Also drilled the holes in the stem that are used to hold the valve from spinning when adjusting them.

[jeff10049]

Next I repaired the valve keepers they were almost worn through the base. I welded them up with stainless rod and re machined them.

[jeff10049]

Next, I reground the valve face angle on my old Sioux valve machine. Then, I cut the seats and installed the valves. I used a piece of felt under the springs to hold oil and keep dirt out of the new guides.
 I just realized I haven't covered the guides. I found that Detroit diesels use 5/16" stem valves, and new cast iron guides are readily available. I bought a set, turned down the OD, and reamed the cylinders to press them in. After that, I cut the seats with a neway seat cutter.  The lifters had fiber pads that were worn out I also made a new set out of acetl plastic.

[jeff10049]

Next up I checked the valve timing I ended up pulling the crankshaft back out pressing off the timing gear turning it 180 and putting it back on that gave me a half tooth change I needed to get the timing right on. The timing on this car is the same as the model 32 in the chart.

[jeff10049]

On to the breeze carburetor. It needed a thorough cleaning, and the main jet was broken, so a new one was made on the lathe. The carb has an interesting-shaped mixture needle, which literature of the time suggests helps atomize the fuel.

[jeff10049]

Next, the oil tank was cleaned and coated inside. New sight glass tubes were made, new studs to hold it, and the water manifold made up. I just added a few posts at once so you may want to look back a few if your just reading this.

[MiniDave]

Is this a splash oil engine or total loss? Does it have an oil pump?

You've made pretty amazing progress!

What book is that spec page from?

Can't wait to hear it run, please be sure to post a video!

[jeff10049]

Splash lube with oil wells for the mains, no oil pump. It is a total loss. The oil box drip rate changes with throttle. The oil fills the crankcase and runs into the gearbox, then down the torque tube to the rear end, from there out the axle tubes to a hole in the end before it gets to the brakes. The gearbox and rear end run different fluids that slowly get diluted by the engine oil and need periodic changes.

 The book page is from the 1912 edition of Heldt's Gasoline Automobile, or possibly a 1917 set of books called Automotive Engineering. I also have a similar page in a circa 1910 book called Automotive Timing and Ignition that I used to cross-check the information. It's interesting that cam timing hasn't changed much in over 100 years. Some of those cams could even be considered mild performance by today's standards.   

I am  considering running it before installing it just for fun and to catch any issues might start working on a test stand setup. I will deffentily post a video of the first run.

[jeff10049]

Had a job canceled on Friday, so we started to make a test stand out of some scrap lumber and a pallet. It'll also be a nice way to store and move the engine until I'm ready to install it. Today I made a crank handle and installed the plug wires and plugs. Also made a way to mount the radiator to the stand and got some hoses for it.  We just might try and start this thing tomorrow. 

[jeff10049]

Got it running I'll post the first start video at some point but I need to edit in a part two. So for now, just a video of it running about the third start, I think.
 
The very first start. It started on the second pull on the crank and seemed to run ok, but it backfired through the carb a couple of times until it ran out of fuel. I then discovered that I had cylinders 2 and 3 switched, so I was only running on two cylinders! I corrected that, and it runs sweet.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk7adjVw38o

[MiniDave]

Sweet!

What is it about the design of engines of this era that gives them that distinct pocketa pocketa sound?

[jeff10049]

Sweet!

What is it about the design of engines of this era that gives them that distinct pocketa pocketa sound?

The firing order is kind of different it's 1243. They definitely have a unique sound this one sounds really good in person.

[MiniDave]

It sounds great, so is it ready to go into the car now? Is the chassis ready for the motor?

Also, what RPM are these comfortable turning? 2K? 3K?

[jeff10049]

It's nearly ready for the car, a few more test runs and fix any small issues. No, the chassis hasn't been started on other than the rear axle, but it's a very simple thing. I had enough apart at once and kept myself busy that I didn't want to tear into it at the same time. I will be starting on it very soon.

This engine is incredibly smooth for no counterweights. I did have the crank statically balanced along with the flywheel. They took a fair amount out of the flywheel. I'm guessing balancing has come a long way since it was first done in 1911. I imagine the lighter pistons help as well. The tools lying on the pallet didn't even move around or fall off. I can't get tools to stay on any part of a modern car with the engine running, and they have counterweights, balance shafts, and all that LOL.
 
The car was advertised to run 50 mph, I think that's around 2,000 rpm. I now have lighter pistons, so I could probably get away with a bit more if the intake, carb, cam, etc, would even support any more rpm. I don't think I'd want to take it much over 2k anyway, it's just not designed for rpm.  I'm thinking it's going to be very happy cruising at about 1,500-1,7000 rpm.

I think the Model T was advertised with a max RPM of 1600, so this is a hot rod in comparison.